McCaffrey's snub means Heisman voting needs cuts, overhaulΒ
In the first quarter of an October game against Arizona, StanfordβsΒ Christian McCaffreyΒ rushed for 79 yards; he finished with 156 even though he didnβt play in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, McCaffrey returned a kickoff 67 yards to set up a TD that helped seal a 55-17 win.
I put him first on my Heisman Trophy ballot.
McCaffrey finished second overall for two reasons: Only 16 percent of the Heisman voters are in the West, and Stanford started 55 percent of its games at or after 8 p.m., East Coast time.
Arizona has 16 Heisman voters (three of them did not vote). I am the state representative for the Heisman committee and have tried to build a panel of college-football-centric voters. I eliminated five Phoenix voters whose main assignments are the NFL, MLB or NBA and replaced them with those who pay more attention to college football. Phoenix has 10 voters; Tucson six.
My sense is that there are too many Heisman voters everywhere.
I would like to see the Heisman people eliminate 50 percent of about 1,000 voters and screen the voters better. That way, when someone like McCaffrey comes along, the right man will finish first.
